Which Ligue 1 clubs pollute the most over a season? | OneFootball

Private jets are Ligue 1 clubs’ preferred transport and the main source of matchday CO2 emissions. According to L'Équipe, three former École des Mines students analysed the 2024-25 season to identify the biggest polluters.

Michel Farah, Ugo Muhieddine and Lou Stührenberg spent spare time calculating the impact of all 34 rounds, including round trips between home and destination cities and coach links between airport and stadium. They drew travel modes from the X account LIGUE 1 | ON AIR, plus clubs’ channels and the press.

The findings put Brest top of the table on 233.6 tonnes, followed by Monaco on 232.8 and Nice on 230.5. At the other end, Auxerre posted 136.1, Reims 144.8 and Angers 146.5, with Reims since relegated to Ligue 2.

Auxerre made five coach trips, to Paris, Lyon, Reims, Nantes and Le Havre. Reims did seven by coach. Angers twice took the train for outward journeys to Paris and Reims, returning by coach.

The trio modelled three scenarios to cut impact, from banning flights under four hours and replacing them with coach or train, to banning those under six hours, and a complete ban they accept would be highly difficult to implement. They say adopting only the first rule would trim travel emissions by 10 per cent, around 312 tonnes, roughly equal to 156 Paris to New York return flights on a scheduled airliner.

Source: L'Équipe